Kyungsoo awoke with a startle, only to find a pair of mischievous eyes staring down at him, inches from his own face. He immediately turned away and buried his head beneath his pillow. "Go away," he said in a muffled voice.

Chanyeol did no such thing and continued to invade his personal space with a wide grin plastered across his face. "Wake up!" he exclaimed, pulling the feather down comforter off of Kyungsoo's body. "It's your birthday!" Chanyeol used his long limbs to reach for the pillow, yanking it unceremoniously away, leaving the sleeping boy completely uncovered, curled up in a fetal position. Kyungsoo proceeded to cover his eyes with his arms, trying in vain to block out the blinding sunlight pouring in through an adjacent window.

"Let me try!" exclaimed Sehun, plopping down on the side of the bed and forcibly pulling his hyung up into a sitting position. 

Kyungsoo squinted through puffy eyelids until his vision had adjusted to the brightness. Scanning the room slowly, his gaze eventually fell upon the doorway, where Luhan was standing, holding a small cake decorated with far too many candles. " my life," he whispered under his breath, so that nobody else could hear.

Without further ado, the unwilling boy was treated to a raucous rendition of the birthday song.

"Make a wish!" beamed Luhan, walking forward and bringing the candles towards Kyungsoo's lips.

Just as he was about to blow them out, Chanyeol placed a hand over his mouth. "Not so fast! You have to think about these things carefully! Don't just waste the wish on your secret crush!"

Kyungsoo glared up at him, eyebrows furrowed. Chanyeol reflexively shuffled backwards, fearful of the small boy's formidable wrath. 

"SECRET CRUSH?!" exclaimed Suho. "On who?!"

Kyungsoo could feel the blood rush up into his cheeks. Mortified, he quickly blew out the candles after making a silent wish.

To his relief, the surrounding members immediately became preoccupied with how to properly divide the tiny cake into too many slices. As soon as the crowd dispersed, Kyungsoo reached for his pillow and comforter, hoping to get back to sleep. But his plans were thwarted once more, this time by the last person he was prepared to deal with.

"You didn't have any," smiled Luhan, holding out a small piece of cake.

"No thanks," replied Kyungsoo, awkwardly averting his gaze and fluffing his pillow to distract himself.

Refusing to take no for an answer, Luhan proceeded to take a seat on Kyungsoo's bedside. "It's your cake!" he said, balancing a small piece of it on a plastic fork and bringing it towards his dongsaeng's lips. "You have to at least try it!"

"It's too early in the morning for cake and I really just..." He was silenced at once as Luhan the fork into his mouth without warning. 

Kyungsoo had no choice but to chew, doing so with a frown plastered across his face.

Luhan couldn't help but laugh at his angry expression. "So what's this about a crush?" he asked far too casually, taking a bite for himself. 

Kyungsoo nearly choked and broke out into a coughing fit, face turning beet red. 

Luhan patted him gently on the back until he had partially recovered. "Don't kill yourself. It was just a question." When his companion didn't respond, Luhan graciously tried to change the subject. "So I was talking to Jongin about what we should do on your birthday, and he said I should take you out to eat, and give you a break from the other members. I asked him to come along, but he has a busy schedule today."

Kyungsoo's eyes became even more round than usual. "I really just want to get some rest," he blurted out without thinking.

"Don't worry! We'll go somewhere quiet."

"No really hyung. I think the other members might feel left out. We should probably just order food and have a dinner at home. It's probably safer than facing the paparazzi."

"You can't just hide indoors for the rest of your life because you're famous! So what if the fans see us? It's not like we're gonna start a dating scandal or something!"

Kyungsoo suddenly found the tangles of his hair all too interesting. He nervously ran his fingers through them, until Chanyeol reappeared at the doorway, grinning creepily from ear to ear. 

"Hyung!" exclaimed the tall boy. "Did he finally tell you?"

"Tell me what?" asked Luhan, turning his gaze towards Kyungsoo.

"His secret birthday wish," replied Chanyeol, purposely keeping a healthy distance from the two of them.

Kyungsoo immediately threw his pillow at Chanyeol's face, forcing him to take cover around the corner.

"What's he talking about?" asked Luhan, still oblivious.

Kyungsoo took a deep breath and threw caution to the wind. "He thinks I have a crush on you." 

Luhan's face went pale as the blood drained from his cheeks. He turned from Kyungsoo to Chanyeol and then back, hoping the two would burst into laughter and reveal that they were just pulling a prank. But all that followed was an awkward silence.

For once, Chanyeol was speechless. He slowly tried to slip out of view, but was caught at once by Kyungsoo's keen gaze.

"Park Chanyeol! Don't you dare! This is your mess, so you're gonna have to stay here and clean i